THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The extent of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's womanising has in the past been hidden because of a convention that the French press reports little on politicians' private lives and the fact that its privacy laws are among the strictest in Europe, commentators and legal experts said on Monday.Commentators were asking why the public not been better informed about his apparently uncontrollable libido.
In a Le Monde article titled "The strange media omerta over the DSK case", journalist and author Christophe Deloire said he had been astonished at the lack of media coverage of a chapter in his 2006 book 'Sexus Politicus' dedicated to Mr Strauss-Kahn's womanising.
"The scenes recounted were not limited to simple salon seduction. This chapter brought our editor and ourselves under intense pressure given the sensitive nature of the information," he said.
However, it was barely picked up on by the press which was "more than discreet" on the chapter. "If tomorrow the French, readers and voters, accuse us once again of keeping a secret to ourselves ... what will we reply?"
Jean Quatremer, the journalist at Libération newspaper was the first French journalist to warn that Mr Strauss-Kahn's treatment of women risked causing his downfall in Washington. However, he was only allowed to publish the information on his blog.
On Monday, he told the Daily Telegraph the Strauss-Kahn affair could be a "turning point" in France's approach to its politician's private lives. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Monday, May 16, 2011
